Paradigm Shift
by marykent
Summary: Oliver's basic assumptions about what is true have been challenged by evidence incriminating his mother. What happens to everyone when secrets are revealed and which betrayals can be forgiven?
1. Chapter 1

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

Deep under the old Queen factory, Oliver sat hunched over the copy of the List that he pulled from his father's dead body. It was now the only copy of the List that Oliver knew was in existence, but perhaps that was not even true anymore.

Above him, machinery began clanking. Something in the mechanical room, probably the boiler, was kicking on again. But the heat it would emit could not warm up the cold feeling in Oliver's gut. Why did Walter have a copy of the List? Walter was his father's old friend from the company. But Oliver would have known that Walter was allied with him to fight the criminal elite of Starling City. Surely his father would have said that in his messages that Oliver received later. Oliver was absolutely certain of that. There were no other scenarios that would explain the copy of the List that Walter obtained.

His mother held answers though. She eliminated possible ways that the book wound up in Walter's possession. Oliver realized that she recognized the book containing the List, but easily explained it. A list of people that owed Robert favors. That was a reasonable assumption for her to make considering she said that Robert was unfaithful and keeping secrets.

After all, Oliver knew secrets serve to protect the people close to the secret keeper. Oliver knew his parents loved each other, regardless of their faults, so his father would use secrets as a means of protection for his wife and even Oliver himself. It was that simple. Everything was explained.

The only loose end was how Walter found the List. That too could be explained because years ago Moira only packed away Robert's things; she did not throw them out. There were ample opportunities for Walter to find a second hidden copy of Robert's List and think that he found something that was Moira's. Walter did not absolutely know where the List came from so there was no reason to be suspicious of its appearance.

Furthermore, Felicity looked into the List and she did not find a direct connection with Moira.

Diggle was just paranoid. Perhaps he was also resentful because Oliver caught his old friends last week when they convinced Diggle to commit crimes under duress. Diggle did not know all the background on the List, and Oliver planned to keep it that way, because secrets do protect people.

* * *

"You bugged my mother?" Oliver accused Diggle.

"Just listen," reasoned Diggle.

Oliver's face tights as he listened to the conversation between his mother and a digitized male voice: _"I need you to remove and dispose of thoroughly the warehouse where you're storing the remains of 'The Queen's Gambit.'"_

"_I already told you,"_ said Moira, "_I knew Robert's yacht was sabotaged_."

The recording ended and Diggle said, "I'm sorry man." The silence stretched on between the two like a wide chasm threatening to engulf them in the dark. Diggle did not know what to do to comfort the normally stoic Oliver. If this were any other conversation Oliver would already have a mask of indifference plastered across his face and shrugged off the sentiment. Then he would state he was gearing up for the next vigilante attack. Diggle was about to reach out and place his hand on Oliver's thigh to comfort him when Oliver broke the silence.

"The yacht was sabotaged." Oliver's whisper cut through the room, "Somebody tried to kill my father."

Oliver had clearly not connected the successful murder of Robert Queen with the presumed death of Oliver years ago when the Queen's Gambit sank. That conversation would take much longer to digest. Instead, to steer Oliver's perspective to his own view, Diggle stated, "Your mother was involved somehow."

Oliver's anger rose to the surface at that, "You do not know that she was involved, Diggle!"

"What I do know, and so do you, is that she kept this a secret." Diggle insisted with a powerful tone, the tone of a commanding officer. "Why would she do that if she didn't have something to hide?"

A digital beep sounded. Diggle questioned, "Is that…?"

"Yeah!" Oliver cuts off Diggle to answer the Hood's cell phone for a timely call from Laurel. Only it was Lance and Oliver needed to put aside his distress over his mother and the second copy of the List to help someone in need right now: Laurel.

* * *

Oliver wearily returned to the hideout under the Queen factory. He was not physically tired from his fight against Cyrus Vanch, but he was mentally exhausted from forcibly controlling his thoughts. Laurel had needed his specific skills. Even Lance had asked for the Hood's help rather than recklessly attacking Cyrus by himself. Oliver reminded himself: acting as a vigilante came first. His own concerns took a distant second.

Laurel was safe again and there was nothing to do except contemplate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the second copy of the List. Oliver realized that he was not thinking entirely rationally on this issue. But perhaps there was another avenue Oliver could investigate.

After dialing the office number at Queen Consolidated, Oliver held his phone up to his ear. Hopefully she kept long hours at the office. She seemed like the type who would.

"Hello? This is Felicity Smoak speaking."

"Hello Felicity," greeted Oliver as he tried to keep the strain from his voice. "Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Uh, well, you are my boss so I am at your beck and call," replied Felicity. Then she quickly babbled on, "Except if it will violate interpersonal office relationships. Then I would need to consider the situation. We just sat through sexual harassment training and I…don't need to tell you all of this."

Perhaps the first hint of a smile leaked out of Oliver as Felicity talked. Calling her was definitely a good idea. "Meet me where we were last time. Be discrete. I have some questions for you." And he hung up.

Felicity held on to the phone. Oliver was an enigma and this time he did not even give an excuses for his need to talk to her and he assumed she was willing to meet him. "Right, boss. Be there shortly, thanks for listening," Felicity finally responded to the static on the phone.

* * *

Oliver grabbed his jacket and pulled the collar up around his ears and hunched his shoulders while he ducked out of the factory. Felicity would lift the weight that the controversy had saddled on him. A few questions and a half a cup of coffee later, Oliver would return to tracking down the true criminals of the city and sleep at home in peace knowing the true character of the people who shared his roof.

After considering all of the ways Diggle could be wrong while making his way to the coffee shop, Oliver pulled the door open and keep his eyes low while turning to take a seat at the tall table by the window.

The employee at the counter called over to Oliver, "Good evening, we are about to close up for the night but I can fix you something to go if you want."

Startled out of his musings, Oliver grunted before walking up to the counter. He laid a couple of hundreds on the counter and asked, "Could you stay open for a little longer tonight and get me and my friend a cup of whatever she orders?"

Astonished, the employee looked up at Oliver and greedily fingered the bills as he stuttered, "Ya ya, uh, I can just clean over on the other side of the restaurant. If you need anything just holler."

As Oliver turned to wait, Felicity entered the restaurant and a smile graced her face. "Hello, what are we doing here in the middle of the night? I am going to need to a caffeine boast to stay awake. Have you ordered yet?" To the barista she requested, "One strong coffee with soy please."

Oliver held up two fingers indicating that he would have the same before leading her to a seat in the back of the restaurant.

Felicity carefully watched Oliver as he sunk into the seat. Normally he was so self-assured and almost smug. This Oliver had demons. She hoped he was not angry about the notebook.

Trying to start with confidence and pose that she no longer felt, she said, "Well, I like this restaurant. Great coffee and good food plus it's far enough away from Queen Consolidated headquarters that you won't run into coworkers here." Perfect, she thought to herself, she established a commonality about the location and indicated she was being discrete in a simple opening statement. Surely he would not fire her; she really wanted to keep this job.

Oliver looked up at her and began, "Hum, good location. So, um," he paused, "about the notebook, I just wanted to hear how you got it again. Can you remind me?"

"Well, you did look a little spacy when I gave it to you." Felicity winced at that. She did not mean to accuse her boss of being high so she plowed on, "I told you basically everything though. Walter came to my office and handed me a blank book and asked me to figure out what secrets it held. At that time it looked empty but I discovered that the names were written sub visible wavelengths in the UV spectrum. I had Walter look at the notebook with glasses that reveal the names. He was reserved about telling me anything, but asked that I not say anything to anyone else which I did not do until I told you. And I will not tell anyone else now. Anyway, he asked a few questions about the practicality of a book with invisible names and asked if I could make them visible. Of course, with a simple chemical reaction, if you know what you are dealing with, I was able to make the names visible to the naked eye as they are now. I was completely discrete when I got the supplies to reveal the names and no one else knew what I was doing. But then Walter disappeared. When he did not turn up again it started to feel fishy. I already knew that the list of names included many of the vigilante's targets and neither Walter nor I were on the list, but I was worried. I tried not to worry, but it all felt like to much of a coincidence." Felicity ended with a sigh. "That's when I decided that I had to show the notebook to someone else so I came to you."

Oliver did not move during Felicity's story. He just studied the table top with his hands clenched tightly at his sides.

The barista carried over their drinks and set them on the table. Felicity quickly reached for the coffee and wrapped her hands around the warm mug while taking a deep breath of the rich dark coffee scent. It was clear that Felicity's answer had not settled any of Oliver's concerns. Biting her tongue, she waited for Oliver to make the next move while she sipped the piping hot coffee.

After watching the steam from the coffee curling upward, Oliver finally moved. He took a deep breath followed by a quick sip of the coffee. Finally, Oliver lifted his eyes up to Felicity's. "Did you find any connections between the names and my mom?"

Felicity shook her head. "No. I only began to look for connections and then Walter disappeared. Before that I went through the names and security flagged an employee from Queen Consolidated who died soon after. Walter told me that the List seemed to be dangerous so I stopped looking into it and waited for some kind of news. Like I said before, I then decided that I could trust you."

Earlier that night when Oliver called, Felicity expected that he would actually tell her what was going on. Oliver's actions clearly showed that something was very wrong. Felicity was not privy to any of the details, but it looked bad. Oliver was staring at his cup of coffee again, looking like the weight of the world was firmly strapped to his back.

Finally Felicity could not take the sullen silence any longer.

"Oliver, have you heard of the Copernican Revolution?"

Surprised, Oliver looked at Felicity. "What? Was it a war?"

"No," Felicity responded. "People used to think that the earth was the center of the universe. Everyone believed that the sun and all the stars went all the way around the earth every single day to create day and night. Then people started to look through telescopes and doing complicated geometry and what they realized was not what they expected. Suddenly, the earth was not the center of the universe.

"Now this might not seem like a big deal today, but people resisted Copernicus' discovery because it defied their ideology. You see, religion stated that the earth was the center of the universe too. Then a scientific revolution said no, everyone needs to change their mindset because we have been wrong about the movement of our plant for millennia. The debate went on for centuries and at one point the Pope convicted Galileo of heresy for upholding Copernicus' views on earth's orbital path. But eventually everyone was convinced that the earth orbits the sun and so that is what we learn in school today."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at Felicity, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"What, you don't believe me? You can Wikipedia it later. Anyway, the science philosopher Thomas Kuhn wrote that things can completely alter your basic assumptions or paradigms about what is right or true. It is called a paradigm shift. It changes your worldview and afterward everything looks different, but eventually you realize that there is still day and night even if the earth goes around the sun instead of the sun orbiting the earth."

Felicity paused so that Oliver could contemplate her rather lengthy analogy to what she thought was going on. Eventually Oliver met her pleading gaze as she asked, "Can I still trust you?"

Oliver broke eye contact with Felicity. Why did everything have to become more complicated? But he would do everything he could to protect Felicity. Resolutely, Oliver meet Felicity's imploring eyes. "Yes. You can always trust me."

I just don't know if I would trust myself, Oliver thought to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

Moira was startled awake in the middle of the night. She drowsily reached over to the other side of the bed to seek comfort from her husband before drifting off to sleep again. The blankets were cool to the touch and neatly laying across the mattress. She was alone.

First Robert and now Walter had been driven from her bed and she was not blameless. Guilt overwhelmed her and she let out a gasping sob. Moira only allowed her anguish to envelop her in the solitude of her room at night.

Her sob was echoed by a shriek from elsewhere in the mansion. Fear gripped Moira's heart. Malcolm took Walter; she would unleash an army on him if he returned to take one of her children. Grabbing a dressing gown, Moira ran from her room to investigate.

* * *

The mansion was completely empty. An eerie silence hung heavy in the air. Everything within the home felt completely hollow. Thick rugs lined the floors, art hung in massive gold platted frames, and all the trinkets remained strategically positioned by interior designers to make the space feel homey. The rooms were lit by rays of sunlight coming in the windows, but the corners were filled with shadows blacker than night. The house felt like it had lost its soul.

Oliver searched the house in a frenzy. Running from room to room, he called for anyone who could hear him and searched for a sign of anyone else in the house. Oliver realized that the house was arranged like it was before he was stranded on the island. Signs of a rebellious Oliver filled the rooms and Thea's middle school books and school uniform were scattered about.

As he searched for anyone familiar, the shadows grew darker and the house began to change. The growing shadows enveloped the familiar things that he remembered from years ago. Oliver arrived in the living room. He looked at the pictures resting on the mantle to see the familiar faces. One by one, his family members in the picture frames disappeared. They were replaced by images of him, alone and grim. He stumbled backward and fell onto a couch but the cushions enveloped him and he could not get up. The shadows grew and overtook him.

With a shriek, he awoke. Chilled and gasping, Oliver detangled himself from the sheets on his bed that held him captive and moved to stand in the moonlight bathing his room. There he stood, paralyzed in his fears.

* * *

Moira realized that the gasping breaths came from Oliver's room. It was unlikely the house was being attached. Memories of the first night Oliver had a panic attack upon his return came to mind.

Dr. Lamb said that Oliver may have changed, but he had adjusted so easily and quickly. He only had one panic attack the first night home. Unfamiliar with the situation, Moira was unsure how to proceed now. Quietly, Moira opened the door.

Oliver stood in front of the window, his skin slick with sweat and gasping for air.

Where was her maternal instinct? Why couldn't she run to comfort Oliver? The terror that she kept beneath the surface threatened to overtake her. Every day, her actions with the undertaking endangered those she cared most about. Walter was already captive due to her involvement. Now she was plagued by the thought of harm coming to Oliver or Thea.

As she stood watching Oliver quaking in his own fear, she remembered she did this to him. Oliver was on the boat that was sabotaged, but he was not the target. Oliver was the innocent civilian caught in the crossfire of a war he did not even know existed.

The only way to continue to protect her family was to keep secrets from them. Their ignorance would protect them. In order to keep them from asking the probing questions that would endanger their lives, Moira needed to remain distant. Her maternal nature drew her to her son to offer comfort; however, her desperate need to minimize his involvement in the undertaking, and herself by extension, forced her to remain in the background.

Moira slowly closed Oliver's door and sank to the floor. Tucking her head into her knees, she wept.

She wept for her hurting son, for her horrible choices in the past, for both of her husbands, and most of all for herself, because she felt like there was no way to right the wrongs of the past.

* * *

Felicity could not fall asleep. Restless tossing and turning did little to calm her mind. Oliver was clearly distraught when they meet at the restaurant the night before. She could really use a drink. "Oliver, why couldn't you give me that bottle of wine tonight?" Felicity moaned into her pillow. A nice glass of wine would sooth her nerves, but her apartment had to be completely void of alcohol tonight.

Since the first time she saw him in passing in the Queen Consolidated building, she recognized the air of entitlement and privilege that he exuded. It was exactly the personality that she avoided at all costs. She worked hard to build her resume and career. She began building computers when she was seven, was shunned during high school for being a computer geek, was completely anti-social in college. Finally, she found a place for herself in the Queen Consolidated IT department where she was both respected and occasionally admired. She did not put in all that effort to be screwed over by a rich snob with an incredibly charming smile.

But that smile haunted her thoughts despite her desire to pommel it out of her mind. No one else could completely disarm her like Oliver did. Suddenly she was researching obviously fabricated lies without asking questions. But she had questions. What was going on?

The notebook of names obviously meant something to Oliver. It was a huge risk to give it to him in the first place, but now she knew how deeply it rattled him. She had caused him anguish over some unknown secret.

Secrets bugged Felicity. They needed answers so Felicity reached over to her laptop. As the computer boated up, Felicity thought about Walter. He disappeared right after giving her the notebook to investigate. Researching the origin of the names was a bad idea. It was an even worse idea on her personal computer, regardless of how strong she built the firewalls.

Resolutely Felicity told her empty room, "Tomorrow I will get some answers from Oliver. After all, he is seriously in my debt; he owes me alcohol."

* * *

Oliver was restless. He was done sleeping for the night. Reliving memories was bad enough, but the terror of old happy memories morphed into nightmares was unbearable. He needed to escape.

After a quick shower, Oliver was on his motorcycle flying down the dark driveway away from the demons that haunted him in the mansion.

From her second story room, Moira watched Oliver's dark shape speed down the driveway. He was surely off to cause a stir in the Starling City nightlife. She could not help but think that it was better that he shame the family name rather than get wrapped up in the undertaking.

* * *

Oliver rode for hours, stopping only for gas. As he rounded a bend in the road, he came upon a small park at the edge of a town. A family was gathered for a picnic. A little girl and an older boy were climbing a low growing crabapple tree. Oliver slowed down and watched the boy tug on the girl's pigtails before jumping down from a branch and running over to the food the women had set out on a picnic blanket.

The scene reminded Oliver of one of the Queen family's rare vacations. The Queen's frequently traveled, but there were always work meetings or social appearances to attend. Once when Oliver and Thea were about the age of the children at the park, they bought a camper and went to the mountains to spend time together.

As he speed onward down the road, Oliver reflected on that long ago trip. He smiled when he remembered his mother swearing the family would never venture so far away from civilization again. Her perfume attracted all the bugs in the campground and her high heels sank in to the muddy ground at the campsite. Oliver had loved the experience and the time the family spent together. Almost subconsciously, Oliver turned around to begin the long trip back to Starling City.

* * *

"You got my messages," exclaimed an excited Moira.

Oliver turned to face his mother as he was about to dash up to his bedroom after returning from his long ride. "Your messages?" he asked.

"Yes, I left you three messages about dinner tonight. I decided we should all have a family dinner. I never get to see you and Thea these days with the demands of running the business and you are always gone. So tonight we are going to relax and catch up," she declared.

Oliver dipped his head in recognition that he would not be escaping this time.

He began walking to the dining room when his mother called, "No, dinner is in the kitchen, like we used to have it years ago."

As he followed his mother to the kitchen, his stomach growled. He did not remember eating anything today, being caught up in his emotional turmoil caused him to forget things like food. He hoped his mother requested an old family favorite for dinner instead of the latest trendy diet food.

"Oliver," Thea drawled sarcastically as he entered. She was already seated at the table with a plate of food in front of her. "It's about time you turn up and complete this little family gathering, but you might as well leave now since your phone will ring in a minute and you will leave again"

"It's nice to see you too, Thea." Turning to his mother he stated, "oven-baked macaroni, I am sure it's as good as I remember it."

Moira smiled gently, delighted that Oliver recognized the food she had requested from the kitchen staff. Finally, she had succeeded in finding a way to unite her family without endangering them. A pleasant family meal would put her mind at ease and bring her closer to her children.

Oliver watched his mother during the meal. She looked so serene tonight. It was not the face of a women involved in organized crime. This was the mother he remembered earlier today who thought camping for a weekend would be good for the family. Everything she did was well intended, even if it was a complete flop. He could not doubt her.

"So Thea, have you thought about looking at colleges anymore? Starling City has a great university, but you can go anywhere you like," Moira asked.

"Why do I need to go to college?" Thea crossed her arms as she glared at her mother.

"Thea, sweetie, there are so many opportunities for you at college. You can choose any major you like and - "

Thea angrily cut her off, "Oliver doesn't have a degree and you are not forcing college down his throat."

"That is entirely different." Moira gestured to Oliver, "He was at college and would have graduated years ago … if things were different," she ended weakly.

"Then why don't you go back to college now, Oliver?" Thea challenged her brother. "Oh, right, you just went to school to party and then drop out so you could start at a new school with new girls."

Oliver looked down at his hands. When he was at school, he partied all the time and only occasionally went to class, and even then he was hung over. He would not wish that life on his sister when there was so much else she could do with her life. The little sister he remembered was studious and mature whereas he had been wild and unmanageable. Now he wanted to tell her how much potential she had, how much she could help the city. But instead she thought he was still the center of the party scene and making a career out of it by opening a club. How could he make her understand that none of the actions he let her see were truly him?

"Thea," Oliver said with a pained look in his eyes. "There are so many things I would do differently." He paused for a moment. "I can tell you starting your own nightclub would be a whole lot easier if I took management and accounting classes."

"Well, I could just get a job at your club like Tommy did. Are you hiring dancers? That doesn't require a degree."

Oliver sighed. "Just think about college. There are plenty of classes you can take to see if you are interested in the subject before you even select a major."

"Don't count on it," she replied before angrily setting down her fork and staring out of the room.

Oliver and Moira tried to look interested in their food, but the atmosphere remained saturated in tension. A buzz came from Oliver's pocket. A hint of a grin stretched across his face when he saw Felicity's name on the screen.

"What, do you have a real girlfriend calling you now Oliver? A hot date that will take all night so you won't be back until tomorrow afternoon?" Thea viciously said to Oliver.

"No, but if you excuse me for a second I will be right back," he responded, attempting to be diplomatic.

Moira sighed before nodding to Oliver. This dinner was bringing on a headache. Why couldn't the family enjoy a peaceful meal together? Thea would pick a fight with anyone these days.

Oliver stepped outside of the kitchen before answering his phone. "Yes?"

"Oh! You startled me," Felicity hurriedly answered.

"How can that be? You called me."

"I guess I just hyped myself up for this phone call all day," Felicity admitted.

"Hum," he responded.

"Okay so here's the thing," Felicity began. "Something is going on here with this notebook and you and Walter that I do not know about. I have no idea what I am doing but I really need to talk to you because I get the feeling you want this to remain secret and I can only contain myself for so long. On the one hand I want to just forget it all, but on the other hand I can't let this go, and apparently I am an octopus in this analogy because on an additional hand I keep coming up with these increasingly horrible ideas about what happened to Walter. I need some answers or else I am going to start researching it all on the Queen Consolidated servers. And if I do that, I keep imagining someone will follow my incredibly well hidden but most likely illegal searches and go kill me. So I need some answers now."

"So you are threatening me by making yourself the victim?" Oliver asked incredulously.

"Well, I wouldn't call it threatening. It's more like I am telling you how my vivid imagination is going to endanger my own life within a matter of hours if I don't get some answers fast."

Oliver paused for a moment. Giving Felicity enough truth to stop her questions seemed like the only path to take. If she had a small bone to gnaw on, she would be satisfied for long enough for him to come up with a good cover story. He hated cover stories.

"I am talking cheetah fast on answers here, no dead airtime on the phone" Felicity insisted.

"Alright. Now is not a good time, but I will meet you at the Big Belly Burger again in an hour," Oliver replied and was about to hang up when Felicity cut in.

"Don't forget my bottle of wine. I think I am going to need some alcohol if I am going to live through the stress you are putting me though."

Felicity smiled to herself. Felicity score 1, Oliver score, well, she had no idea how to keep score in this situation. She was going to find out what was happening and she was going to get her reward. Perhaps Oliver would split the wine with her. He looked like he needed a glass the night before. Well, a girl could dream.

Oliver hung up and returned to his awkward family dinner with a small smile.

"Was it a stripper? Why haven't you already left to meet her?" Thea asked bitterly.

"Thea," Moira shushed.

"No," Oliver responded. "It was…work I guess," before digging into his dessert with gusto.


	3. Chapter 3

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

Felicity was accustomed to working with computers. Often she thought of binary code as her native language. English was a secondary but necessary communication with other people. If only people would communicate in binary code. Everything written in clear terms: zero and one. Nothing was vague about her code, each written to perform and specific function on the computer and it worked every time. Errors only occur where humans got involved and incorrectly enter data or write bad code.

But she found herself increasingly excited to meet with Oliver and have actual conversations. But there were also issues that needed to be work out.

"You came! I mean you said you would but I'm being all needy here and you are all stoic – not 'hold my hand while I pour out my insecurities' at all," rambled Felicity.

"Yes, well, it's not the first time I am enjoying an unplanned meal today. Although, the first did not turn out all that enjoyable," replied Oliver.

Just then Carly came over and welcomed them, "Good evening Oliver and…"

"Felicity," he offered.

"You are becoming quite the regular here. Pretty soon you will have preferred seat and everything. What can I get the two of you tonight?"

"I'm starving," Felicity started, "I will have a burger done medium well with blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion, with fries, actually, no onion. And coleslaw, can I get slaw too? Plus a Dr. Pepper" Looking over to Oliver she confessed, "I guess worrying increases my appetite."

"And what will you have?" Carly asked with her pen poised to take an order.

"Just a glass of water for me."

"You sure?"

"That will be all, thank you," Oliver said.

As Carly left Felicity gaped at Oliver, "What? You are just going to sit there and watch me eat?"

"It might be fun," Oliver replied while smirking at Felicity.

Felicity glared back at Oliver, but really she was pleased. Today he was in a much better mood which would hopefully bode well for her questions.

"Besides, tonight my mom arranged for my favorite meal from when I was growing up. Naturally, I completely overindulged in baked macaroni and will therefore not require more food."

Felicity observes that Oliver actually looked content while telling her about his dinner. Fascinated, she notes, "So you are a macaroni kind of person. It is nice to know something about the young Oliver Queen. Tell me something else about you when you were a kid," she requested while leaning toward him, eager to learn more about the mysterious man in front of her.

Oliver leaned back in his seat. "There is not much to tell. I was spoiled and did little that was constructive." He ended abruptly and the set of his jaw tightened.

"Are you going to convince me that you are actually human and not a wild party animal?" she asked flippantly, hoping to lighten the mood again.

A stormy look floods Oliver's eyes and he looked for Carly hoping that she was about to deliver Felicity's food.

"Wow that was blunt, sorry." Reminding herself to think before she talks, Felicity softly states, "Do you remember how I told you I felt like I could trust you the first time we met her? You deflected first. I guess I do that too. Only when I deflect I choose the worst things to say and embarrass everyone involved in the conversation. I am just more comfortable working with computers than people. Computers follow your instructions exactly but people are so complex."

Oliver nods to her. "I know what you mean in theory, but I missed out on a whole generation of computers, smartphones, and technology in general so many aspects of modern computers are a mystery to me still."

"You poor deprived man! I would go crazy without my computers."

"You may be surprised what you actually do without the things you are accustomed to having provided to you," he said thoughtfully.

A comfortable silence settled between the two as Carly delivered Felicity's food and she began to eat. Oliver wondered at the conversation. Numerous times he had become defensive when Felicity brought up topics he was uncomfortable with, but she also managed to redirect the conversation back into neutral territory each time. Oliver could not remember another conversation where he had shared so much information about himself and his experiences without completely locking up. Felicity was much better at interpersonal relationships than she gave herself credit for. But then again, by admitting she was not an expert at relationships, she was actually establishing rapport with him. He hated to show weaknesses, but she was willing to admit that she had weaknesses too. Most people he interacted with would do anything to hide their weaknesses. It was refreshing.

Having sedated her appetite, Felicity set down her burger and wiped her hands on her napkin before making eye contact with Oliver. "I know I asked you if I could trust you, and I do. I just thought that I owed you the same in return. I may just be an IT person that works for you, but I know something big is going on. Oliver, you can trust me."

Oliver searched her eyes. All that he could see in their blue depths was sincerity. He wanted to trust her. She had only given him evidence to suggest that she was trustworthy. But doubt flooded over him. He was scared of misplacing trust in the wrong people. I could mean his inability to complete his mission. And the mission came above all else.

"I appreciate your offer, Felicity," he stated.

"Thank you," she replied. She hoped that he would accept her offer, not just appreciate it. "But I still trust you and I will continue to help you in any way that I can. I want to find Walter because he trusted me with the mysterious notebook and now I am involved. I can see in your eyes that you want to trust me too and I will be ready when you can accept my offer."

Oliver bobbed his head in recognition of her concession. Finally he shyly spoke up, "I always feel alone. Thank you for being so open with me, and for being so patient." Oliver knew she had to have her suspicions. He asked numerous favors with ridiculous cover stories after all.

"Thank you for telling me," Felicity whispered back. Her curiosity begged her to ask follow up questions. It was apparent from his demeanor that he just bared a little bit of his tormented soul to her. Everything about him screamed that he was guarded and the last thing she wanted to do was scare him off. Instead she resumed eating her food.

With a final sip of her water, Felicity sat back in her seat. "Dinner has been great, but I really do have some questions for you."

"Okay."

"I have been thinking nonstop about Walter, the notebook, evil plots to rule the world, and it is all really bugging me. Bugging me enough that even the codes I tried to write at work today had bugs in them. You are obviously keeping secrets about what is going on. Early on I tried to suppress my questions, but then you wanted to meet again to hear my side of how I got that notebook and I cannot get it off my mind. Have you heard of perspectivism?"

"No," Oliver replied slowly as he processed the rapid change in subjects.

"I promise it's relevant. Basically, perspectivism is the idea that there are a bunch of different perspectives that can each yield evidence of the truth, but each interpretation of the truth is limited by the truth seeker's perspective. All I am asking for is your perspective on one issue which will provide me with additional evidence to sedate my curiosity and hopefully provide me with a few answers," Felicity said.

Oliver thought through her proposal. He knew that she was eternally curious. It was part of why he selected her to do his investigative work. What he appreciated was that she thought through the entire scenario instead of shooting off question after question. He knew he would have to throw her a bone in the form of some answers to satisfy her otherwise she would start looking for answers herself. "Yes, I will answer your questions – if the answer will not endanger you further."

"Agreed then," stated Felicity. In a whisper she asked, "Do you think that Walter is still alive?"

Oliver took a deep breath, "I know that you already know that in situations like this, it is unlikely that the missing person is still alive."

"I know that, but what do you think? You were in the 'supposed to be dead' category before, but clearly you are not dead. Is there a chance for Walter?" her voice rang with desperation.

"I think there might be a chance that he is alive. And I am trying to find him." Oliver's eyes flashed with determination.

Felicity was relieved that Oliver was actively searching for answers about Walter's disappearance too. "Who is behind Walter's disappearance?"

Oliver fidgeted. His eyes danced across the room. In a dangerously calm voice that suggested he was suppressing his emotions on the issue he said, "I have spent the whole day trying to escape that question."

Hastily, Oliver laid a couple of bills down on the table and fled the restaurant.

* * *

Unlike Oliver's long bike ride earlier in the day, he could not find his center while riding through the city streets as he rode away from the restaurant. Felicity's questions haunted him. There had to be a connection between Walter's disappearance and the mysterious undertaking. It could not be a coincidence. But he would rather deny their existence. Oliver pulled off to the side of the road at the top of Star Bridge and looked out over the city. The dimly lit docks below sent of a florescent glow. Red and blue lights from police cars attracted his attention. Speeding off on his bike again, Oliver resolved to do some crime fighting tonight, even if it was not directly related to the tumultuous questions that flooded his mind.

Back at the old factory he grabbed his disguise and began to hurriedly suit up. While pulling the suit over his head a sound startled him from behind. Whirling around, Oliver prepared to attack the intruder only to discover Diggle standing there.

Oliver pointedly ignored him and resumed suiting up.

Diggle crossed his arms and waited. His face was a mask of authority as he tried to persuade Oliver to listen to what he had to say.

The two stood off in a staring contest. Finally Oliver spit, "What? Do you not approve of our mission anymore?"

"No, I still support the mission." Diggle stated. "I do not approve of your frenzied attempt to fight crime when you are distracted and emotional."

"Well you don't need to tag along tonight. I am only going out to patrol." Oliver retorted.

"Patrol?" questioned Diggle. "When have you ever patrolled the city? You already have targets. When I suggested we clean up crime previously, you stated you did not do that stuff. Why start now?"

"I have to do something. I am going down to the docks to see if there is any activity with the Triad," Oliver replied as he turned to stock his quiver with arrows.

"Oh, so you do have a target in mind. What's more is that your target is armed, deadly, and does not stop to ask questions before they shoot. Yet you do not need backup. Why do you need to go out alone Oliver?"

Oliver winced. It felt as if he was fighting a losing battle. His nightmares had escalated, his mother tried to rally the family but Thea continued to rebel, Felicity was asking questions he was not ready to face, and Diggle would not back down about convicting his own family. Everything seemed to be stacked against him. He did not want to be alone. He just needed this escape from his thoughts. Embracing his fighting instincts would provide an escape. "Diggle, I am going out to fight crime. Everyone is calling me a vigilante. Look it up, vigilante's fight crime. So deal with it," growled Oliver.

Diggle loomed over Oliver. "You need to look at this objectively Oliver. Your mother is involved in something dangerous and it is not a coincidence that horrible things are happening to your family. We can investigate and do some objective fact exploration, get another perspective."

"I've listened to your recording fifteen times. It's definitely her voice, Diggle. I just…I can't believe it's her," he pleaded.

"We all have blind spots when it comes to family," Diggle responded.

"Yeah," Oliver grudgingly agreed.

"I guess the lesson here is that blind trust can be dangerous." Oliver thought of Felicity. She trusted him, and she was endangered by the mysterious circumstances that they found themselves in. She called it perspectivism or something. He needed to gather more information from other perspectives.

Diggle changed subjects while Oliver was still thinking, "What's the undertaking?"

Oliver, exasperated, "I don't know. But with all this talk about threats, it can't be good. You warned me that if she was lying it would be to cover up something that is dangerous. I need to know what the undertaking is."

"What are you going to do?"

"I need to have another chat with my mom."


	4. Chapter 4

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

A.N. I am taking a few liberties with the plot, I hope you enjoy!

Shattering – The glass of Queen Consolidated splintered around him as he persecuted his own mother.

Threatening – "Moira Queen, You have failed this city," said the electronic voice. Did Oliver believe his accusation though?

Imploring – His own face starred back at him from the picture frame as his mother desperately begged for her life to be spared on behalf of his own wellbeing.

Disarming – His resolve cracked; he lay down his bow and naively became her victim.

Firing – Her hand shook at she pointed the gun at her attacker, but her aim was true.

Alone. Bleeding on the floor. Victimized by his own mother. Forsaken.

Overwhelmed, Oliver struggled to escape the scene. He managed to hide in the backseat of the one person parked in the company parking garage that he could possibly begin to trust. Trust that she would deliver him to the old Queen factory rather than calling the police anyway.

* * *

"I could have done more," muttered Oliver. "I could have done something, anything, to prevent having my own mother turn a gun at her attacker." His mother would be mortified that she had attemped murder and Thea would be terrified that there was an attacker out to get additional members of their family.

Diggle finally realized how deeply Oliver cared for his family, but then again, he may just be in shock. Even after facing his own mortality again, and at the hands of his mother, he thought only of them and how he ought to have sacrificed more of himself on their behalf. His anguish was plain to see on his face. "There is no way you could have known what she would do, how she would respond in that situation. We each do what we are able to do, and you have dedicated yourself to doing everything that you can, but we all have our limitations."

"But she is my mother," implored Oliver, "I could have done more. I acted impulsively when I went to talk to her tonight."

Felicity reached over to Oliver and gently laid her hand on Oliver's shoulder. He needed comfort. Just by looking at him, she could see that he felt the weight of the world piling up on his shoulders. Despite his noble intentions, his actions were adding to the weight. Only this weight threatened to be too much for him to bear. There were consequences to his actions and this time the consequences were literally to close to home. She knew that the events of this night would haunt Oliver. Instead of thinking about the ramifications of the night on himself, he was anxiously concerned with his attacker's wellbeing - his mother's wellbeing.

Together the three sat in solemn reflection.

A muscle high Oliver's forehead twitched. The anguished look in his soulful eyes hardened as a resolute mask descended over his face. Suddenly, the Starling City vigilante returned. He challenged Felicity about joining the cause, threatened Diggle to abandon his attack on his mother, and announced he was recovered enough to return home.

The mask Diggle and Felicity were learning to recognize on his face lifted for a moment as he compassionately said, "I need to care for my family today."

* * *

Moria hated describing the crime scene repeatedly. Each time she relived the fear she felt as the vigilante held his bow with an arrow leaved toward her heart. She felt the terror that envelopes the mind and body when a deadly weapon is poised to kill. And now she could not escape her guilt. She brought this fate upon herself. Her choices, though she despised them, made her the target. Her horrible choices nearly tore her family apart once again. She despised herself for her choices that lead to that moment. The moment when she put a bullet through the vigilante.

What truly terrified her was how powerful that moment had made her feel. For years, Malcolm and his plans dictated her life and actions. Anything he decided would be for the benefit of the undertaking became her responsibility. She was his puppet, acting and reacting but always conscious of his desires. When the vigilante barged into her office, she finally obtained the upper hand. She manipulated the situation. She convinced him to lay down his weapon. She literally held the trigger. And she felt empowered.

But she desperately wished that the vigilante had visited Malcolm Merlyn instead. Then she could truly be freed from her guilt in the undertaking. Instead she was giving statements to the police about how she gunned down the one hope that she had of escaping.

Finally, Oliver arrived back to the mansion after a long night working at his club.

Moira lamented, "Sweetheart, I was so scared."

"I'm just glad you are okay," replied Oliver while masking his emotional turmoil.

"I thought he was going to kill me."

Oliver stepped forward to hug his mother, "I promise you, he is never going to bother you again."

Mother and son embraced. Moira was comforted by the presence of her son. The previous night, fear of being separated from him and her daughter propelled her into action to plead for her life on behalf of caring for her kids. She resolved, there in the arms of her son, to become a better mother for her children. She needed to extricate herself from the oppressive organization she was currently aligned with in order to ensure her family's wellbeing. Being reunited with her children after her brush with the vigilante reminded her of how important they actually were to her.

Oliver held his arms open to hug his mother. But he remembered laying down his weapon and holding his hands up in her office the night before, trusting that he could talk with her. He remembered her plea to be saved in order to care for her children, only to have a gun pointed at him. He remembered her cold eyes as she fired her gun at him. He remembered pain.

Moira wrapped her arms around Oliver and he panicked.

He desperately needed to escape this situation. Extracting himself from her arms, he assessed his surrounds. He bolted out the back door in a desperate rush, fleeing like a fox escaping hound dogs and a hunting party. Oliver tore across the stone patio in his patent leather shoes. Jumping down all the steps, he flew across the grass, not even sparing a glance at the site where his tombstone used to lie. Reaching the end of the lawn, he hurdled the low wall and his charcoal gray suit disappeared within the trees. In an instant, the dark woods showed no sign of his rapid flight.


	5. Chapter 5

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

"Oliver?" Moira questioned with her arms still outstretched to hug him as Oliver twisted away from her. She tried again Oliver as he fled from the mansion. "Oliver!"

Thea watched, wide-eyed as her brother abandoned their family again. Didn't he have any compassion? He only stayed long enough to ask about the crime scene at Queen Consolidated and then bailed.

An authoritative look descended over Moira's confused expression. Already she had her phone to her ear calling the head of security. The security team may have had a long night at her office crime scene, but she wanted them here, immediately.

Looking around anxiously, Moira caught sight of Diggle observing the scene. "Diggle," Moira shouted, "Go find my son and bring him back!" She was distressed. Why would her son run away from her?

Diggle quickly went to the back door to follow Oliver across the lawn. When he reached the still open door, he swung back around to face Moira. Gathering all of his confidence, he faced his employer, his commanding officer. He had to protest his orders. Insubordination, he thought to himself. But he knew Oliver's character in ways Moira did not. Trying to sound calm and convincing, he began, "I do not think that is a good course of action, Mrs. Queen." He held her gaze, challenging her order. Diggle gulped before elaborating, "I caught a glimpse of Oliver as he ran out of the room. I recognized the expression on his face from my experience in the army. He looked like he was fleeing. The worst thing I could do now would be to follow him; he would interpret it as being hunted."

Moira felt powerless again. "I am not hunting him!" she wailed. A steely look returned to her eyes as she came up with the next best option. "Well then go out there and make sure that that entire woods is protected. I will send the company's men to help you. Hire more people if you need to. I want to know that my son is safe." Images of the night before flashed before her eyes. The vigilante attacked her. If he found out that Oliver was unprotected in the woods, what would stop the Hood from attacking Oliver?

* * *

Oliver ran like there were demons chasing him, but the real demons were on the prowl in his mind. He ducked below branches, twisted through thickets, and leapt across creeks. Panic had overtaken his thoughts and he allowed his body to put as much distance between himself and the situation as he could. At this point he was not even sure what he was running away from. A rush of emotions overtook him. Grief, anguish, hatred, desperation, guilt – each emotion tore at his mind, demanding his attention. Instead he ran further allowing his instincts to overtake him.

Shengcún.

Eventually he settled into a ground-covering stride running roughly east toward the foothills sticking to forested areas and tree lines. He allowed his mind to focus only on his even breathing and remaining alert to any threats in his surroundings. Midafternoon he allowed himself a stop for water from a well outside a rundown barn. He bundled up his jacket and strapped it to his back with his tie. Next he pulled out his cell phone. Illuminating the screen out of habit, he was startled by the number of new messages he received. Laurel, Tommy, his mother, Thea, even people from the company sent him texts or left him messages. He was about to destroy the phone to prevent being followed by its internal GPS, but he caught a glimpse of Felicity's name. Based on the timestamp, she had texted him right after he left the factory to return home.

Felicity Smoak : Remember paradigm shifts? Life goes on no matter how the planets orbit. I understand the implications of your secret and I trust you.

Oliver rubbed his neck and looked at the sky. How did she, ugh. He did not want to think about it anymore. He typed a quick 'thanks' and his thumb hovered over the send button. He shouldn't. Before he could change his mind he pressed send and turned off his phone.

Next, he quickly disengaged its GPS and tracking capacities. Dropping the phone into his pocket, he resumed his run, doing the best he could to ignoring the marauding demons in his mind.

By evening the dancing tongues of fiery emotion that fueled his escape were dying down to embers, but those embers smoldered hotter than the flames of the freshly lit fire. His mind burned with questions of how to deal with Diggle's startling discoveries about his mother and how to fix the screwed up relationships in his life. Nothing was turning out the way he imagined it would while he was on Lian Yu planning his revenge on the names from the List.

Deep within a pine stand, Oliver decided to stop for the night. He was grateful for the weariness that settled throughout his body because it overtook his reeling mind allowing him to depart into sleep quickly.

* * *

Oliver's absence destroyed any semblance of purpose for the Mission. Diggle was at a loss for how to proceed with the Hood activities, research the List, track crime in the city, and maintain security per Moira's orders. Diggle knew that Oliver was long gone. He proved that geographic boundaries meant little to him and he managed to cover large swaths of land rapidly while hunting down criminals. If he did not want to be found now, he was certainly beyond Diggle's tracking range. Any perimeter that they set up would undoubtedly be too small. Instead, Diggle set up a guard of the countryside surrounding the mansion purely to reassure Moira.

In a backwards sort of way, Oliver did need protection from the Hood. Not literally, but the implications of the Hood's activities did spur the chain of events that caused Diggle to patrol the country for security threats to Oliver's wellbeing.

The pretense of guard duty also distracted him from thinking about the events that led to Moira's desire for security. Diggle tried to tell himself that Moira needed to be investigated, but he couldn't help but think he pushed Oliver too hard. He pushed the subject even when Oliver told him to drop it. Oliver had instructed him to drop it, but he refused. Instead, he collected additional evidence, evidence that was circumstantial but still condemning. He pushed Oliver too far against his family loyalty.

Diggle prided himself as being Oliver's closest confidant, but Oliver must have had a better bluff than he realized. His deepest fear was that Oliver succeeded at uncovering information from his mother that implicated her, but he managed to hide his knowledge from Diggle. How would Oliver recover from that knowledge if it was true? And it would be his fault.

Diggle's radio came to life requesting the hourly update from all the guards posted. "All clear at the eastern boundary. No suspicious traffic approaching the perimeter from the highway," radioed Diggle.

The sun was low in the horizon and soon it would be hard to see any activity outside at all. He would just sit in the company car beating himself up over his actions until his next report. Diggle decided to search his mind for any clues from Oliver the night before.

When Felicity brought Oliver…Felicity – he had forgotten her. She did not know what was going on now. Provisional or not, she in on the secret and ought to know what was happening before the media got wind of it.

* * *

Felicity's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID – John Diggle. She quickly answered.

"You guys both sure do know how to make a girl feel involved. Well, not involved like you probably just thought. Just, wanted. No. Like one of the guys. Except not. You know what I mean," rambled Felicity.

"Actually, I don't know what you mean. I was just calling to let you know what happened when Oliver got home." Diggle thought for a second. "What did you mean by 'both' earlier? Did you mean me and Oliver?"

"Well yes, first I got secret projects from you like once a month and then when I finally get in on the secret, you both suddenly decide to regularly communicate with me."

"So you heard from Oliver, recently?" asked Diggle incredulously.

"Ya, I got a text from him this afternoon. All he said was thanks but he doesn't seem like the 'send out thoughtful texts frequently' kind of guy so I thought it was kinda monumental."

"Monumental is right." Diggle deadpanned. "No one else has had any contact with him since this morning, myself included."

"Oh," replied Felicity, eloquently. "I am not his secretary now, am I?"

"Felicity, this morning Oliver confirmed that the police lost their blood evidence. Then when he spoke with his mom he freaked out. He ran out of the mansion which caused Moira to freak out. The short of it is that now I am heading the guard duty patrolling the land near the mansion where Moira assumes Oliver is hiding out." Diggle paused for a moment before soberly continuing. "I have never seen him like that before. I think I missed something last night after Oliver was shot."

"Okay, um, I mean the thing with his mom did seem pretty extreme. And now he is alone in the woods? Won't he need his bow and arrow?" Felicity asked. She was reeling from the news and pacing a small track through her apartment. Her days in Brownies taught her you needed all kinds of camping gear outside but apparently Oliver didn't take anything.

"Don't worry about him Felicity. He lived like this for years; he can do it again tonight. He doesn't need a weapon, he forged himself into one."

"Then can you leave him food, water, clothes, shelter? Anything?" she pleaded. She wouldn't live a day outside with nothing but the clothes on her back. For one thing, there were no electrical outlets in the woods.

"Felicity, I just wanted to keep you informed. Oliver made you a member of this team. I apologize for not calling you sooner, but now you know. I will call you if I have any new information."

"Thanks," replied Felicity while she watched the setting sun.

"He will be fine Felicity. Bye."

She bit her lip as the dial tone on her phone buzzed in her ear. Oliver was out there somewhere alone in the coming darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

The mists clung to the evergreen forest where Oliver was observing Yao Fei hunting. When Yao Fei taught him to shoot a bow for the first time, Oliver missed the target tree by yards. The arrow landed amide the dense vegetation and tall evergreens.

While retrieving the arrow, Oliver was captured by men dressed in all black. They thrust him into a pit prison while he yelled relentlessly, "Hey, hey, you can't leave me here! Please! Please! No! Please!" Oliver futilely rolled around in the moist, pine needle covered hole. Eventually the armed men released him for questioning. His hands were bound, but that was not the only reason he could not attack. He did not know how to fight these strangers. He was completely vulnerable to their attack.

Oliver was forced at gunpoint to enter a tent in the armed men's camp before he was left alone with the man seated at the desk. "Please, sit. You are making me feel rude," said the condemning English accent Oliver knew was Edward Fyers. "I do apologize for my men's treatment of you," he continued. Anguished, Oliver looked up and locked eyes with his body guard Diggle sitting arrogantly behind the desk. "I view any stranger as hostile." Diggle paused while his eyes were fixed on Oliver, "I'm John Diggle. And you are?"

"I'm, I'm not sure anymore," confessed Oliver, bewildered. "All I know is that I am now alone."

Diggle pulled a photo off the cabinet behind his chair and showed it to Oliver. "This lady. Do you know her?" continued Diggle but with the English accent of Edward Fyers.

"No," Oliver said. However, he did know her. It was a photo of his mother. Only she was not the mother he recognized while he was growing up or at the office. This woman had a vicious and desperate look on her face. He was crestfallen.

"You are a poor liar," Diggle said in a hard voice before laying down the photo. "Do you know what this place is called? We are on Lian Yu. It's Mandarin for purgatory." Diggle leaned forward at the desk so that his body loomed over Oliver. "But I can make it feel like hell."

As Diggle left the tent he turned to make one final jab at Oliver. "I don't know why you are protecting her. You are young, foolish. Perhaps you don't know why either. Think on that while you are begging for death."

When Oliver turned to the entrance of the tent he saw a man stalking in armed with all manner of weapons. He wore a mask half black and half white with an accentuated brow line that indicated to any opponent that he was ruthless and arrogant.

Diggle returned with the picture of Oliver's mom. "I know this is your mom. Is she guilty?"

"No," Oliver replied. He tried to reply stalwartly, but he doubted himself. Diggle gathered incriminating evidence of Moira discussing the mysterious undertaking. All Oliver had was blind belief in his mom. Nervous sweat dripped down from Oliver's brow.

The masked man stepped forward with a knife. Oliver felt the cold blade cut into his abdomen, deeply. He clenched his eyes shut as he let out a shriek.

"Where can I find her?" challenged Diggle in Fyer's English accent.

"She is my mother!" Oliver spit back at Diggle. "She is off limits."

This time when the masked man stepped forward, he sliced through the skin below Oliver's clavicle without any evidence of sympathy in his blackened eyes.

"Your mother was involved in killing your father," Diggle said as he pressed on with the interrogation.

The blood drained from Oliver's face and he began to panic. His hands were bound. His did not know how to defend himself from this attack on his image of family. Through gritted teeth while seething with anger Oliver threatened. "You do not know that she was involved Diggle!"

The masked man stepped in front of Oliver again. Instead of raising a weapon, he reached up to his mask and pulled in off. However, instead of being an unknown, cold-blooded killer like Oliver expected, he recognized his mother's elegantly curled blonde hair. He did not recognize her eyes though. Her eyes radiated wrath and fear.

Then she pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest.

* * *

Oliver awoke and reached under the neck of his shirt. There, near the base of his neck was the fresh wound inflicted by the bullet his mother fired.

He retched.

Standing, he fled as if he was once more in his mother's office the night he was shot. Desperately, he looked for a place to hide and take shelter. He quickly scaled a tall pine tree and hid himself amide the thick branches while he rode out the panic attack he was experiencing. Images of his mother, Diggle, being tortured on the island, and attempting to preserve his life continued to run together in his mind.

He awoke to find himself uncomfortably wedged in between closely growing pine branches high above the ground. Immediately he was overcome by devastating shame. Climbing down to the ground, he brushed pine needles and sap off of himself before efficiently cleaning up in the nearby stream. He lay back down on a thick blanket of needles and looked up at the sky through the pine branches. The quiet of the morning, the scent of pine resin, and the bright sun above reminded him of the innumerable days he spent alone on the island. Days he spent fighting the shame he felt for destroying the Lance family and channeling that shame into vengeful anger toward the criminals of Starling City. He knew his father was involved, but now he doubted his mother's innocence as well. He wanted an escape from his experiences.

It felt right, predictable even, to be outside again. Here, he was away from the prying eyes of his family and friends. There was no one nearby to attack him or inform him of his inadequacies. He could hide from his fears. The monotony of solitary life was pleasant when compared to the complicated and unfathomable interpersonal relationships. Yao Fei and Slade taught him what he needed to know in order to survive in the wilderness. The plant and animal species differed, but his knowledge was transferable. Nature provided refuge and solace.

* * *

Felicity poured herself a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and tried to reminisce over childhood memories of enjoying the sweet cereal and early morning cartoons before heading off to school. The attempt was failing miserably. Instead, she was slowly swirling her spoon through the soggy cereal with a thousand yard stare out the kitchen window. All she could only think of Oliver alone in the woods without modern conveniences like over processed breakfast cereals.

After pouring the uneaten cereal and chocolaty milk down the drain, she noticed her phone illuminated with a new message. Lunging for it, she saw that Diggle texted her saying that they should meet sometime that day to discuss arrangements. Felicity hurriedly gathered her things before driving out to the Queen mansion to meet with Diggle at his security post.

Diggle was just as preoccupied thinking about Oliver as Felicity was. Normally, Diggle could discretely complain about his clients with other ex-army guys now employed doing security detail. They would go out in the evening together and laugh about being paid to watch naive kids and their ignorant actions. But Diggle couldn't just laugh off the events that had transpired around Oliver. For one thing, Diggle discovered that his respect for Oliver was far too high for him ignore his concern. Instead he found himself desperate to justify his actions and Felicity was the only person who would actually understand. Diggle let out a relieved sigh when he saw Felicity pull up behind his car.

"Good morning," Diggle greeted her as she climbed into the car and handed him a tall coffee.

"Is there any news?" Felicity asked, worried that something had happened.

"No, all quiet. But I would not expect any news about Oliver. I have been trying to reassure Moira that he is fine, wherever he is. She has been desperate to call Detective Lance and get the police involved in an investigation."

"Detective Lance working with Moira, voluntarily? I have not even met them and I can see how poorly that would go over."

"I know," agreed Diggle with a little chuckle. "You should see them going back and forth every time Detective Lance brings Oliver or Thea home from their latest misadventure."

The two reflected on the recent events surrounding Oliver for a minute while looking out over the horizon.

Felicity was chewing on her lip while thinking about the night Oliver was shot. Diggle had not been forthcoming about the actual events that lead to Oliver attacking his mother. Instead he gave anecdotal responses and dodged questions. Felicity remembered after she went upstairs to use the bathroom, she saw Oliver leaving the old factory in his Hood outfit. When she went downstairs, she asked Diggle if Oliver was ready to go out already. Earlier, his heart had stopped and his wound was barely scabbed over but Diggle had let him leave. When she further questioned Diggle, he brushed off her inquiries and made sure that she could drive herself home. She reluctantly left after she made Diggle promise to follow Oliver to make sure he was doing all right.

"What doesn't make any sense to me is why did Oliver attack Mrs. Queen as the Hood in the first place? Mrs. Queen is not on the List, she only had a copy of the List" asked Felicity without her normal comedic style.

Diggle cleared his throat. "I was encouraging Oliver to look into Mrs. Queen's involvement."

"And Oliver just went along with it? Now knowing about his secret identity and all, I would have expected him to protect his mother's honor or some other knightly thing," Felicity said with a flourish of her hands.

"Well, that's the thing. I kept pushing him," confessed Diggle while wringing his hands.

"You did?! You manipulated him into attacking his mom?" asked Felicity, bewildered and not a little upset.

"I didn't know how he was going to go about it. I think I wanted him to find out what was going on before he got stabbed in the back by his mom." Diggle paused for a soulful long moment. "But now that reason feels like I am justifying my own actions."

Felicity thought back on her phone conversation with Diggle the night before. She touched his hands to still them before she said, "You remember when you said you might have missed clues from Oliver that something was wrong? You do know that all of this is not your fault, right?"

"Ya, I know," stated Diggle while looking down at his hands. "But it's another thing convincing myself that I am not guilty of diffusing at least part of the situation. There have been other times when Oliver is filled with adrenaline and I talked him out of some bad ideas. Other times, I follow along and make sure that someone has his back. But this time," he paused and turned so Felicity couldn't even see his face in profile, "I encouraged him to keep investigating his mother. I set him up knowing the possibility that he would hate what he found." Diggle looked at Felicity straight in the eyes and said, "I know I betrayed him."

She looked him in the eyes and said back, "Then we will have to make sure he comes back when he is ready and you two can talk it out. Because I doubt that Oliver will see your actions as a betrayal. If he did, he would have sought you out already. Perhaps at arrow point," she threw in jokingly. "I think he is out their running away from himself instead."

"Then I am still guilty of pushing him into situations he wasn't ready for," stated Diggle somberly.

"I doubt that too. Oliver has been through a crucible already. He survived five years on the other side of the world waiting to right the wrongs of his family, right? He is not going to let himself stop him now."

"You know, its nice to have someone to talk to about the Mission other than Oliver for once. You are good at reading him and bolstering moral – although a bit unorthodox."

"I'm glad you think so. But just so you know all of that before, I think I was trying to convince myself that Oliver will be okay rather than reassure you."

"Well, it worked," replied Diggle as he sat back and relaxed a bit in his seat.

The two fell into an easy rhythm discussing the unnecessary guard duty Diggle was running to reassure Moira. Felicity even gave some suggestions about setting up a sort of mobile command center at the Queen mansion where Diggle could oversee the security.

Suddenly, someone rapped on the car window causing Felicity and Diggle to jump in their seats. Diggle hurriedly rolled down the window and saw one of the security guys looking afraid of what he might find in the car. Beside him, Felicity was trying not to laugh at Diggle's embarrassed expression.

"I was assigned to rotate to this security station," began the security guy, uncomfortably. "Is anything wrong here?"

Stutteringly, Diggle thought quickly, "Ugh, Felic- Ms. Smoak is from the IT department. She is, ugh, determining the -" Diggle looked to Felicity hoping for help. Instead, Felicity fidgeted uncomfortably and reached around to scratch her neck. Diggle resumed, "she is figuring out how many guards the budget will pay for to guard. Ya, she is working on staffing issues."

Felicity rolled her eyes.

"Well, okay then. Should I remain here or go somewhere else for my post Mr. Diggle?" asked the security guard.

Diggle glanced at the time and realized he was in fact late moving to the next guard post. "I'll move around to the next position." Diggle looked at Felicity with desperation as he rolled up the window, "Please, come up with a brilliant idea about how the IT department can help with staffing."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "It should be illegal for you and Oliver to come up with cover stories." She crossed her arms and stared down Diggle. After a moment she continued, "Of course, I can develop a model about paying the guard staff."

"Excellent," said Diggle.

"Problem is that there is absolutely no reason for my onsite consultation or involvement because this is entirely a human resources problem. So to fix your little cover story problem, I will model the ideal positions for you to station your guards based on time of day, traffic patterns, and topography with optimization parameters for expense of guard employment." With a flourish, she opened her door and went back to her car with a smug expression.

Diggle shook his head. He had no idea what Felicity was planning, but at least she had a good track record for helping out the cause.


	7. Chapter 7

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

* * *

There is a moment when you wake up. Not when you wake up with an alarm sounding, but when you are peacefully brought to consciousness there is a moment with neither past nor future. In that moment the opportunities are endless. However, choices from the past and anxiety about the future come catapulting in and destroy the tranquility of restful sleep. Good morning indeed.

Oliver felt the serenity of his first night of deep sleep disappear in an instant when he awoke.

The previous day he had valiantly tried to distract himself from the years of torment he felt but denial did nothing to address the problem.

Many trees in the woods felt his wrath as he lashed out in anger against inanimate objects, tearing limbs from trunks and uprooting saplings only to hurl them as far as he could.

When his rage exhausted him, he was overcome but the anguish of losing his family and then failing to truly share himself with his mother, sister, and friends upon his return, and so he mourned for the image of a family and friendship that he questioned ever existed.

He fell asleep thinking about how he bargained with himself while on the island. He remembered promising himself that if he could return home, he would right the wrongs done to the city, but he realized he forgot to think about himself. His hopes, his dreams. He had suppressed them for years in order to survive. Now he was still alive, but not really living, he was continuously masquerading as himself. But his life was hollow and driven only by his mission.

Ultimately, he had to address the demons that were chasing him: his grief. Seeking the solitude of the woods was a method of escapism. His persistent anguish would not abide with time alone nor would he gain absolution from the people he had pushed away by remaining in the woods. As the new dawn broke, Oliver began the long trek back to the mansion. He felt an inkling of hope that he could find his place in this world.

* * *

Laurel moaned as her alarm incessantly beeped. She tried to remember the cases she was investigating for CNRI But she could already tell she was bound to flounder through another day distracted.

With a large mug of hot coffee, Laurel sat down at her breakfast counter to look over the newspaper headlines. If there were any updates on the vigilante or Moira Queen's reaction it was sure to be front page news. Up until this point, the Queens had been uncharacteristically close lipped about the vigilante attack which meant there was plenty of gossip but no firm evidence to ease Laurel's worry. Her heart told her she trusted the vigilante despite the crimes he committed and his audacity to ignore the law. He was a social justice crusader. Or at least that is what she told herself. However, he attacked the Queens and Oliver by extension when he stormed Mrs. Queen's office and threatened her.

A story about the latest government scandal and the predicted storm brewing were splashed across the front page. A quick scan of the other important stories showed that there was no new evidence about the recent vigilante attack nor was there a new vigilante sighting last night. With a sigh Laurel prepared to go into the office and force herself to focus on her latest case.

Driving into work, Laurel saw construction crews preparing to repair the glass on the Queen Consolidated headquarters. Already, evidence of the vigilante's attack was being smoothed over, but surely the Queens were still traumatized by the attack. Thea had texted her previously saying she would remain at home for a few days with the family rather than completing more hours at CNRI. Her responsibilities as a role model for Thea solidified her decision. She would visit the Queens herself to see how they were coping. Perhaps seeing for herself that the vigilante did not do any lasting harm would settle her mind since her heart refused to believe he could murder Mrs. Queen.

* * *

Moira awoke early, hopeful that Oliver returned during the night. Of course, any kind of ransom or information from Malcolm about capturing Oliver would make today even worst then the night she was attacked by the vigilante. She was devoting all of her resources and thought toward protecting her family instead of reflecting on the attack from the vigilante. Their safety came first.

She descended the grand staircase and was surprised by the unusual noises. Normally, the house help did not create much noise, and they certainly did not do much typing. Thea was practically a recluse, isolated in her bedroom all hours of the day so it was unlikely that she was making the noise.

Looking into the formal living room, Moira was shocked by its transformation. Where yesterday it was tastefully decorated with elegant furniture, classical artwork, and a single tv, it now prominently featured computers, monitors, and all kinds of tech equipment. There were a few security men she recognized from the past two days manning the computers, but at the hub of the new setup appeared to be a young blonde talking to someone on a headset.

Moira cleared her throat and the blonde spun around in her chair. "I'll call you back," she said before quickly fumbling for the end button on her phone and standing. She tugged on the end of her pencil skirt before holding her hand out to Moira. "Good morning Mrs. Queen, I am Felicity Smoak," she stated with a smile.

Dubiously, Moira held out her hand. "Good morning Ms. Smoak." As her eyes darted around the room again she continued, "What has been going on during the night?"

"Ah, well, yesterday I consulted with Mr. Diggle about some adjustments he could implement for security." Felicity pushed her glasses up her nose a bit more. "I may have made a few more upgrades than I implied I would make when discussing the changes with Mr. Diggle."

Moira arched an eyebrow in a manner that reminded Felicity of Oliver. It was his tell that he found something humorous but did not want you to know he was enjoying it. Like mother like son.

"I hope that you do not mind the rearrangement that occurred," continued Felicity, "but I knew this was a high priority and this room prevents the security teams from needing to move through the personal space in your home."

"Thank you for your thoughtfulness," Moira replied. She was warming up to the young woman that she recognized from Queen Consolidated. "Now have you found any new information?"

"Unfortunately, no. None of the security men found any evidence of your son overnight. However, there is no evidence of your son being attacked or kidnapped elsewhere in the city either," reported Felicity.

"And have the tabloids discovered that Oliver disappeared?" asked Moira.

"No, there are a few questions about where he is, but no one has any leads. If you are interested, I have prepared a cover story that he is traveling. I could even let it leak that he was unofficially sighted on a beach in Cinque Terre, Italy."

"That sounds like a good deterrent for media attention. I suppose you ought to return to your work then, Ms. Smoak."

Moira turned to leave the room only to see Diggle standing in the doorway looking flabbergasted. "Mr. Diggle, you found a very capable head for the operations here. I approve."

As Moira brushed past Diggle he stammered, "Thank you, Mrs. Queen."

"I am not going to wipe your drool off the floor Diggle. I told you yesterday about my suggestions." Looking proud of her work, Felicity gestured to all of the new equipment, "I do not know why you are so surprised about the implementation."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised but isn't this a bit extreme?" Diggle asked.

Acting appalled Felicity exclaimed, "Extreme? Do you want to find Oliver or not? By the way, I send an email from your account to my boss at the Queen Consolidated headquarters stating that I am reassigned her until further notice. So if you would, make sure you smooth it over when he calls angry that I am not completing his work too."

"How did you get in my account? My password is a secret!" exclaimed Diggle.

"Diggle, it's what I do. Now your computer is over there, get to work."

Diggle sat down at his computer and found a message from Felicity. "I put your computer on a secure sever that is not connected to the mansion or the company's network. You can work on your extracurricular research without worrying about leaking information. Good luck."

Diggle chuckled to himself and looked around at all the equipment Felicity had moved in overnight when he caught sight of Thea hurriedly ducking out of the room. He frowned when he thought of Thea sneaking around the house while Felicity left notes on his desk about secret missions. He would remind Felicity to be discrete in the future. Diggle shredded Felicity's note (did she forget anything in this impromptu office?) and got to work researching the latest crime occurring in Starling City looking for links to people he knew Oliver was targeting.


	8. Chapter 8

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

Laurel knocked on the stout wooden doors of the Queen mansion. She shifted her weight back and forth between her feet while waiting for someone to answer the door. She was not nervous per say - she was just concerned for Mrs. Queen's safety after the vigilante's attack and she was anxious to get more information. However, she had no idea where she stood with Oliver. They were constantly redrawing the line in the sand between themselves. His behavior was an enigma to her but something about him made her willing to forgive any of his transgressions.

Then there was Thea to think about. It had been years since Laurel had tried to be a good role model for her sister Sarah. Since then she completely dedicated herself first to law school and now to work. Suddenly she was legally responsible for Thea as well. Laurel had no idea how to tap into Thea's potential, no idea how to inspire Thea to find a passion to pursue.

Laurel realized she was fixating on how the Queens were holding up. She was denying to herself that her relationship with Tommy was at a crossroads. Since the night of the vigilante attack she had avoided Tommy and a discussion of what their relationship meant to each of them. Worrying about the Queens was much easier than confronting Tommy.

Before Laurel had a chance to figure out any answers, Raisa pulled the door open.

"Laurel! It has been too long since I have seen you," said Raisa in her soothing Russian accent while a smile lit up her face.

"Good morning, it has been too long," replied Laurel. She had always adored the motherly women. "I am just dropping by to see how the Queens are holding up after the vigilante attack. I know I am here early in the morning, but are any of them around?"

"It is never too early for you to visit. I will go see if Mrs. Queen or Thea are available. Come in," directed Raisa as she ushered Laurel through the entryway.

As Raisa ascended the stairs in pursuit of the residents, Laurel looked at the old family photos of the Queens. They did not deserve to have their family torn apart. From her own experience, Laurel understood the loss of family and how the scars of that loss lingered long into the future. Now Oliver returned to the family but their unity was once again threatened by the recent vigilante attack.

The vigilante was an mystery to Laurel. Practicing law was a career designed to uncover the black and white truth amide the tangle of lies, greed, shortcuts, and deceit of underhanded people. It was a challenge, but with enough evidence the truth would prevail.

However, the more interaction with the vigilante that Laurel experienced, the further she got from uncovering the truth. His actions screamed of a dangerous murderer like her father warned her. But there was contradictory evidence too. She could not figure out his morals, sense of justice, or motivation. Laurel thought about the times she meet the vigilante. He was not a cold-blooded killer. He fought ruthlessly but with purpose. He evaded the police, but he fed them information. His eyes were filled with rage, but he rescued her, repeatedly.

He must have a plan, a reason for his actions, but there were outliers. Why would the vigilante target Mrs. Queen? The vigilante attack against Mrs. Queen was too close to home for her comfort. Laurel tried to deny to herself that her emotions went haywire in the company of the vigilante; however, she found herself repeatedly attracted to him. She tried talking to Tommy but he was all happy go lucky and did not appreciate her attempt at an intellectual discussion about the vigilante's virtues. She dropped it, fearing that talking about the vigilante would make her blush anyway.

Laurel continued to ponder what the vigilante's motives could have been when Raisa cleared her throat quietly.

"That is one of my favorites," Raisa said, nodding to the family portrait Laurel was looking at. "Mrs. Queen took down all the family pictures after the accident, but I am happy that she put that one back out when Oliver returned. You cannot simply forget the past by avoiding it."

But there were so many things Laurel wished she could forget or avoid indefinitely.

"Mrs. Queen is regretfully on a conference call right now, but she invited you to have some breakfast while I see if Thea can come down. Would you like to wait?" asked Raisa.

"Thank you," Laurel smiled at the kind maid. "I will take you up on the offer for breakfast and talking to Thea."

Raisa let out a small sigh. "Wonderful, she is a good girl, but she has a habit of avoiding everyone in the house." The wistful look in Raisa's eye disappeared as she asked, "Can I make you breakfast? Or a coffee?"

"I always enjoy your food. Have you been baking recently?"

"You know I always have freshly baked pastries. This morning I made berry scones."

"I would love one, and a coffee with sugar," requested Laurel.

"I will bring it out in a minute," replied Raisa happily before briskly walking to the kitchens.

With a sigh, Laurel took a seat in the entry area to wait.

Immediately, the large wooden doors creaked open and a blonde girl entered the house mumbling, "I hate creaking doors, isn't is contradictory to have mansions with rusty hinges? Add WD40 to the next invoice…"

When she noticed Laurel she reached up to tug on her pony tail and said, "Sorry, I just have this thing about door maintenance. It's really more a thing about squeaking, and desk chairs that creak when you swivel. Horrible. So, um, enough with my opinions about doors and chairs. You're Laurel right? I am Felicity."

Laurel awkwardly stood to shake Felicity's hand. "Hello, I am Laurel," but instead of it being a statement, it was phrased as a question while she was startled by Felicity's unconventional entrance.

"So did you hear from Oliver or were you just wondering how he's doing? Because I don't actually have any new information," said Felicity as she folded her jacket over her arm.

Laurel stood their dumbfounded before responding, "Um, who are you and why are you accumulating information about Oliver? I just wanted to see how everyone was doing after the vigilante attack."

Felicity's brow crinkled. "There seems to be just a tinsy little miscommunication then. I just assumed you knew since you were here at the mansion but clearly I need to increase my morning coffee intake again…let's go sit in the parlor." With that, Felicity turned and walked into the adjoining room leaving a stunned Laurel to trail after her. Unbeknownst to either of them, Thea crept around the upstairs banister listening in on whatever conversation was loud enough to make it up to her.

Felicity was seated on a sofa and studied her neatly trimmed nails for a moment before bringing the bewildered Laurel up to speed on the short version of the calamity following the vigilante attack.

As Felicity was finishing, Raisa brought a tray in with coffee for both girls and a selection of pastries. Laurel used the distraction as an opportunity to think about what Felicity had just told her. Oliver had essentially run away, presumably due to anxiety over the vigilante attack?

"Sorry about blindsiding you with that," Felicity apologized after a few sips of coffee.

"Thank you for telling me," Laurel responded. "Lately everything I hear seems to be wrapped in a veil of secrets and actually hearing the truth is refreshing."

Felicity looked down, Laurel was thanking her for telling the truth when Felicity had just lied about Oliver's real whereabouts. Looking up, she diverted the conversation. "When I walked in, you looked like you had a lot on your mind. What's wrong?"

"I wanted to ask Oliver about Tommy. He has known Tommy the longest so I thought maybe he could help. I just don't know what to do to reconcile with Tommy. You see, Tommy found out that I had been talking and even working with the vigilante for months without telling him. Oliver said that I need to reconcile with Tommy, but I want Tommy to understand my views on the vigilante even though I don't understand them myself." The more Laurel said, the better she felt for getting it off her chest. The worry and doubt hung over her for too long. "I have tried to talk with Tommy about the vigilante, but there are so many other things that I should be talking about with Tommy, particularly about fixing our relationship."

Felicity noticed Diggle walking up to the parlor. As Laurel continued talking about Tommy and his response to Laurel's secret meetings with the vigilante, Felicity did her best to discretely beg Diggle with her eyes to rescue her from girl time. When Laurel reached down to pick up her coffee again, Felicity wildly gestured to Diggle to join them. Instead, Diggle made a face back and walks out of the room, chuckling to himself. Researching the whereabouts and activity of criminals was positively pleasant compared to listening to girls talk about their emotions.

Laurel continued on about her relationship with Tommy and how she felt after the vigilante rescued her from Cyrus Vanch. Then the vigilante said he did not want to endanger her anymore, but then he went and attacked Oliver's mother. Throughout Laurel's story, Felicity refrained from making any facial expressions, particularly those that displayed disinterest or boredom. Is this how people felt when she gave them too much information about IT questions? And how can someone analyze their feelings and moral philosophy for so long?

"So all these festering questions are distracting me from everything I ought to be working on," concluded Laurel.

Felicity quickly tried to remember what Laurel conflict with Tommy was about. Mindlessly nodding while Laurel talked might not have been the best plan. "You're a lawyer right?" asked Felicity. When Laurel nodded, Felicity continued, "So would you agree that you are addressing the situation from a law perspective instead of the typical impulsive guy manor Tommy is?"

"So if I followed all your stories you just told me," Felicity waved her hands around for dramatic measure while hoping she paid enough attention to survive this conversation, "you are disappointed because you asked for mercy for not being honest with Tommy from the beginning and he is going to make you wait on an answer instead of immediately saying it's okay and moving on. In lawyer speak, you asked for clemency and received a reprieve instead of a pardon?"

"Well, yes," responded Laurel, bemused that Felicity converted the situation into issues she was familiar with instead of just talking about relationships. The law, after all was designed to be clean and clear when determining blame.

Felicity continued, "Because it seems to me that Tommy easily could have blown you off. Instead he is waiting before giving you a verdict. In the meantime, you should make sure he knows that you consider your relationship to be important. For instance, you could go have coffee with him instead of milling over the situation for days and looking for Oliver to give you advice when you know you need to talk to Tommy."

She wondered to herself, when did she become a relationship expert? Everything remotely related to Oliver was like a Shakespearian drama – only without cross dressers. Now she would have to look out for cross dressers. There were some suspicious people on the wait staff that wore unisex looking uniforms…

Laurel considered Felicity's words and her own reluctance to take action. She resolved herself to talk with Tommy and proceeded to hurriedly gather her coat and belongings. Rushing to the door while trying to catch the second sleeve of her coat flapping behind her, she nearly tripped.

Felicity stood up and asked, "Whoa, can I help you with your coat or something?"

"No," Laurel hastily called over her shoulder. "I've got to go convince Tommy ASAP."

"Shouldn't you wait a little bit so you can organize your thoughts? Mercy must be given, not coerced."

"You're right. Then what should I say to him?" Laurel looked at Felicity with wild eyes.

"Be straight forward with him since he is upset that you were hiding things to begin with. What did they say in Shakespeare? Something like mercy is twice blest: for the giver and the receiver?"

"In the Merchant of Venice!" Laurel exclaimed and then rolled her eyes, "But I knew Tommy when he was still going to school. Trust me, he did not read the Merchant of Venice or watch the movie."

Felicity pushed her glasses up her nose and replied, "The idea is the same whether he knows the reference or not. Do not accuse him of being mad at you or bring up his own examples of lying, just let him know that you want to make your relationship work and you are willing to change your behavior in the future."

"I will try," promised Laurel appreciatively. "Thank you."

* * *

Diggle spent the afternoon following leads about the actions and whereabouts of various people on the List that Oliver monitored. Oliver picked a good week to go MIA as far as crime was concerned. Diggle hoped it was not the quiet before the storm.

After another lead wound up being a dead end, Diggle was about ready to quit. Oliver was truly dedicated to the mission and at times Diggle envied his commitment.

When Diggle was ready to quit for the night, a new alert came through on the police department's scanner. There were new reports of suspicious activity at the Glades Heights apartment complex. Diggle knew he recognized that apartment complex from a rap sheet Oliver was accumulating on one of the guys on the List.

Diggle quickly searched through the names and files of criminals he was tracking and found Lee Heuton. Heuton's address was listed at the Glades Heights. What's more, Oliver tagged the address as the likely office or headquarters for Heuton's operations. To date, they were not able to trace any crimes back to Heuton directly. Perhaps it was time to do some on site investigative work.

Standing up, Diggle waved Felicity over.

She promptly joined Diggle looking at his monitors. "Your spread sheet is as organized as a five year old's toy chest. I am teaching you and Oliver new data management techniques whenever he turns up," Felicity announced.

Ignoring her comment, Diggle stated, "I have been following old leads Oliver flagged about people from the List. Lee Heuton's name just came up due to his connections at the Glades Heights apartment complex. The police are currently on site but have not gathered any incriminating evidence."

Felicity looked skeptical. "So is that really all we have to go on? The police couldn't find anything but Oliver left some old notes about the guy?"

"Oliver would be all over this despite the lack of hard evidence. And where Oliver might gear up in the Hood and shoot everyone until he figures out what is going on, I thought we could just do some investigative work."

"Do you have a plan in mind then? Because I am new at the implementing world domination schemes that extend beyond the realm of computer games," quipped Felicity.

"How about leaving some recording devices?" asked Diggle. "It would be an in and out kind of operation. Sneak in there, leave a bug, and find out if they are actually committing crimes.

Felicity twirled a chunk of her hair around her finger while she thought over Diggle's proposal. Her main concern was finding Walter, not tracking down every name on the List that Oliver was enamored with.

However, Diggle's plan sounded relatively harmless. "If you pinky swear not to get caught, I will go along with your plan. We are gathering info only, no tomfoolery or worse, getting caught. I am not dressing up in a ridiculous costume so I can sweep in to save you if you screw up the plan."

"Pinky swear?" chuckled Diggle. "This isn't my first rodeo. I won't even be seen, although we should think about staging something so that the Hood is seen by people and gets on the news. Then no one will see the relationship between Oliver being gone and the vigilante being notably inactive."

"How about one mission at a time with the priority of not giving caught on our first go around," pleaded Felicity. Then with a smile Felicity teasingly punched Diggle's arm, "I can't have you getting a hero complex and then running away on me too."


	9. Chapter 9

Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of the tv show Arrow.

Laurel stood frozen at Tommy's door. Why did she continuously finding herself at doorsteps without the courage to knock? Tentatively she raised her hand. She was desperate for mercy and forgiveness from Tommy. Slowly she rapped on the door but the sound was weak and reluctant compared to her normal knock.

She prided herself on her independence and self-sufficiency. Now she was faced with the dilemma of how to let another person into her autonomous lifestyle. Truth be told, she had kept her distance from everyone since her sister died and Oliver was marooned. Her mother's departure only drove her to become more isolated.

If she and Tommy were ever going to be more than friends with benefits testing the waters of a relationship she would have to lower her guard. If she couldn't do that, and if she couldn't stop her incessant interest in the Hood, then she needed to tell Tommy that too. As it was, she was leading Tommy down a dead end road. Tommy's response to her veiled truths when she let leak her meeting with the Hood suggested he could see through her actions. The longer she waited the longer she would drag out the agony.

She smoothed down the creases in her blouse and composed herself. Felicity said she needed to be honest and forthcoming with Tommy. She would try her best.

All too soon, Tommy stood beside the open door looking ticked off. Laurel looked closer and saw the dull cast to his eyes and the uncharacteristic scruff around his jaw. The only time the normally suave man didn't shave was when he was hung over. What had she missed in the last five days? It was clear that the somber expression on his face was her doing.

Tommy was the first to find words, angry hurt words. "You aren't breaking up with me in a text? That's how insensitive liars normally do it. You have ignored me for days and now you just want to stand at my doorstep?"

With anger, Tommy swung the door shut. Finally, Laurel made a move; she blocked the door from closing entirely.

"Tommy!" Laurel called out with desperation ringing clearly in her voice. "Tommy," she called again, but with a quivering voice. "I'm so lost."

Something in Laurel's confession compelled Tommy to open the door wider to look at Laurel. Instead of the polished appearance she normally had, Laurel appeared to be at her wits end and the thinly veiled fear in her eyes revealed the desperation she felt.

Tommy moved so that Laurel could step into the room while he closed the door. Before he knew it, Laurel wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. Trepidly, Tommy mirrored Laurel's actions and held her in his arms.

As they stood there enclosed in an embrace, Laurel began to shake gently. Tommy guided her to the sofa and let her begin to sob quietly.

After crying herself out, Laurel looked up into Tommy's eyes. She could not remember why she was so afraid of facing Tommy again. The words easily came to her as she confessed her confusion over her feelings conflicting with her desperate need to remain independent. Ever since she lost her sister and Oliver she kept everyone else at arm's length. Tommy accepted her fears. He only wanted her to be honest with him from the start.

They agreed that they both needed to trust each other and their relationship could then grow from there.

Laurel wrapped Tommy in another embrace and whispered, "Thank you Tommy."

* * *

Diggle was sitting out in another Queen Consolidated vehicle on guard patrol. It had been four days since Oliver's departure. Diggle knew that Oliver had been alone in the wilderness for far longer than this, but doubts crept into his mind. Most of his concerns revolved around the fear that he had somehow made Oliver leave. Either he was too hard on Oliver about his mother's guilt or he missed some other psyche derived issues Oliver was hiding from him. Regardless, sitting idle in the car looking for Oliver served no purpose.

Diggle pulled out his tablet computer issued to all Queen Consolidated employees as a marketing gimmick. At least it was useful for reviewing the information he had gathered on Lee Heuton and his posse. He was quickly absorbed by cross referencing people and addresses.

A knocking on the glass of the passenger side window startled Diggle and he reacted by reaching for his gun. Remembering the last time he was startled while on guard duty, he looking up expecting another employee, but instead he saw Thea holding her coat close to her body.

Quickly reaching over to the passenger door, he popped the door open and ushered Thea into the car. Based on how flushed her checks were she had walked all the way from the mansion out to his car. He turned up the heat and looked over at her expectantly.

Thea pushed her long hair behind her ears before looking over at Diggle. The entire walk out his car in the rotation of security guys out on patrol she replayed her fears over and over.

"Mr. Diggle," began Thea, "no one is telling me what is going on. I know trusted you. Please tell me what is happening to my brother."

The sincerity and plea for information was clear in Thea's tone. She was a young woman wrapped up in a drama she knew nothing about.

However, Diggle could not betray Oliver and tell Thea what was actually occurring. Instead he told her about the measures he was taking as the head of the security team Mrs. Queen requested to look for Oliver and protect him while he was gone.

"Mr. Diggle, I may just be Oliver's younger sister who is constantly a disappointment," she was using the tone of voice she used when complaining to Oliver, "but I already knew about the security measures you have in place. You are running the security out of my house." Her voice turned serious again, "I want to know about Oliver. What happened to him? Why is he so different than I remember?"

"Thea," Diggle said with a sigh. He was reluctant to reveal anything to her. "He is not trying to spite you by not telling you details. He does not tell anyone what happened to him on the island. I never knew him before so I don't know how he has changed." Diggle thought to himself that the diversion was worth a shot here.

"Mr. Diggle," Thea began with her annoyed tone he often heard her use on her mother when she tried to assert her independence. "I know you didn't know him before. But now you are the one he spends the most time with. You must know something."

Diggle stared straight out the window of the car. He would not let this girl boss him into sharing Oliver's secrets. The silence stretched on between them until Diggle heard sniffling coming from Thea.

"No one will tell me anything. After the boat went down it took days for my mother to tell me about the accident. I learned about the Queen's Gambit from the news. Now I know he ran off but no one will give me updates or asks for my help. At least this time I know everything in the news is a cover story." Thea shyly looked up at Diggle through her damp eyelashes. She held the collar of her coat close to her body and it looked like she was trying to bury her face in her scarf.

Diggle looked at Thea. Perhaps for the first time he really looked at Thea straight in the eye. He had always dismissed her as Oliver's bratty little sister. But she was more than the little girl he had come to expect. He realized Oliver valued her in his own way and he ought to follow Oliver's lead.

Her eyes were dark, but not from makeup, there were dark shadows beneath them. They betrayed her fears and anguish over her missing brother. She was emotionally calloused just like everyone else in the family. She had suffered for years without her brother and father and now she was suffering and alone again. He didn't know if she talked with other people about her feelings, but she must have been desperate for any kind of news to walk miles out to his car and ask virtual stranger for any information on her brother.

He couldn't turn her away without some glimmer of honesty to hold onto. "I get the distinct impression that anything I know about Oliver is information he wanted to keep secret. He is trying to protect everyone else by not letting them know just how bad his experiences were."

Thea looked out over the fields remembering the night Oliver arrived home. "He only told me it was cold. He wasn't talking about the weather was he? And the scars he has…" her voice trailed off while she brushed away a stray tear.

Diggle took a deep breath before looking over at Thea again. His own experiences were nothing like Oliver's, but he couldn't share any of Oliver's secrets. He had already caused a rift between himself and Oliver. He could only come up with one idea to help Oliver's sister.

"I was in the army for years. When you are out there, you fight to survive. Sometimes, you do things to survive that can terrify you in the future. Sometimes the memories haunt you until you cannot suppress them anymore. I don't know what Oliver was thinking, but he probably ran into the woods because if felt safer there. It was his element for five years. It could be that while he is in the woods, a familiar place for him, his actions in the past make more sense and they are easier to deal with. It is not something that is logical or reasonable. It just is." Diggle's gruff voice came to an end. He thought back over his experiences in the army and their lingering effect on his life.

A quiet voice whispered, "Thanks Mr. Diggle."

Gathering his thoughts again, Diggle asked, "Do you want a ride back to your house?"

"Sure."

Silence overtook the car. Then Thea worriedly asked, "Is he really going to be okay out here? They are predicting a snowstorm."

"He will be fine." Diggle looked over at Thea while he was driving. She was chewing on her lip while her eyes were roaming the countryside looking for her missing brother. "If you want updates just ask me or Felicity at the mansion. There is no sense in walking all the way out to the boondocks to look for answers." But Diggle did not know what ghosts Oliver was fighting within himself and it worried him.

* * *

"Are you sure you are ready for this?" challenged Felicity. She looked skeptically at Diggle in his black hoodies and jeans that covered the bullet proof vest he was wearing below. She had insisted on the vest against strong resistance.

"Relax. I don't freak out like this when Oliver goes out as the Hood," responded Diggle.

Felicity raised an eyebrow, her suspicion clear.

"Well at least I don't force Oliver to wear a bullet proof vest," retorted Diggle.

Felicity huffed, "Oliver would really benefit from a vest. Just don't make the vest necessary and I will be happy."

"Really, happy? What happened to your reluctance to help with any Hood missions that are not directly tied to finding Walter?" deflected Diggle.

Felicity thought for a moment before responding, "Priorities change. First we need to get Oliver back. Secondary to that priority, I see the usefulness of keeping tabs on criminals that the police can't reach."

"Then we need to go round up some information on criminals," stated Diggle.

Lee Heuton was being questioned about reports of suspicious activity, seedy late night visitors, and noise disturbances. None of the reports were serious enough to attract attention from detectives, just enough to get visits from the police. As it was, the police did not have enough evidence to charge Heuton with a crime.

Felicity drove to the Glades and right by the apartment complex. Diggle studied the parking area to see what cars were present and check for activity near Heuton's apartment. There were a few kids on the far side of the complex, but otherwise the area was clear for the reconnaissance mission.

After parking on a nearby side street, Felicity pulled up all of her satellite feeds and security programs to monitor the situation. With a last check that Diggle's earpiece was working, Felicity said, "No heroics now!"

Diggle didn't look back. He pulled his hoodie up and tried to discretely walk down the road toward the apartments.

When Diggle got close, he realized Heuton and his thugs where gathered out front of the apartment. Diggle changed course and crept around the back. After listening for a moment to assess whether anyone was nearby, Diggle reached for the fire escape ladder to get up to the third floor apartment.

As he leaped up to catch the fire escape ladder, he was knocked off balance from behind. Spinning around to face his attacker, Diggle caught sight of a bat like object in the hands of a leather jacket wearing thug. As he quickly regrouped to disarm his attacker, he was suddenly hit in the ribcage by another person outside of his periphery vision. Diggle spun around to the right to see who the second attacker was. Enraged, Diggle forcefully shoved away the closest attacker. Before he had a chance to pull out his weapon, the first guy threw a strong punch into the shadowed recesses of Diggle's face. Crying out in anger, Oliver roundhouse kicked the attacker and fled the alleyway. Clearly he did not have the element of surprise or a good understanding of the situation he was getting into with Heuton yet.

"Diggle, what is going on?" came Felicity's voice through his ear piece. "I'm not hearing happy sounds; I'm hearing action movie fight scene noises."

"I'll be back to the car in a minute," responded Diggle as he began to jog back to the car while keeping to the darkest shadows.

Felicity was doing her best to suppress full on panic in the car. Nothing in the IT department was ever this adrenaline inducing. The closest she ever got to fear in the office was the terror of possibly sampling the five alarm chili instead of the vegetarian option at the annual chili cook off. She let out her breath when she saw Diggle coming toward the car but noticed he was clutching his side.

"What was my only requirement about this mission?" challenged Felicity. "You were not supposed to fight anyone! Here, I have the first aid kit."

Diggle swatted away Felicity's hands as she tried to put a band aid on a cut on Diggle's face where he was punched. "Stop. It's just a cut and I'm fine."

"No you aren't! I have an ice pack for your side too. You were holding your ribs when you walked back to the car." Felicity's panic was apparent as she fumbled the items in the first aid kit.

"Calm down Felicity. I was wearing the vest, remember? I was only holding my side to make sure the security devices would not fall out of the pocket because I think there is a hole in my hoodie now. So the new plan is we wait for the commotion my first attempt caused to blow over and I will try to use Oliver's automatic crossbow to implant some tech near a window so we can still get some intel."

Felicity nodded her head, but she didn't think she really agreed. The panic she felt was easing but in its place she realized again how dangerous the situation was.

"What do your satellite feeds show now?" Diggle realized that Felicity was still worrying so he asked about the security since it was something Felicity understood.

With a few touches to the screens, Felicity had a refreshed picture of the apartment displayed. Together they watched the site for additional changes. After a few hours, the increased movement around the apartment complex had died down again.

Diggle turned to Felicity and announced, "I am going to go back over there. Do not worry; I am not going up the fire escape like we planned last time. And I am still wearing the vest so nothing will happen."

Felicity frowned, but realized Diggle had made up her mind regardless of her input.

When Diggle was absolutely sure there was no one outside of the apartment complex watching him, he knelt down to the ground. He quickly placed his specialty arrow in the automatic crossbow and aimed for the eaves extending over the third floor apartment. With a satisfying twick Diggle sent a perfectly aimed arrow buried deep into the wood. His practice with Oliver was certainly helping. Attached to the arrow was a tiny recorder that would transmit audio from Heuton's apartment back to Oliver's computers below the club. Now they could learn more Heuton and evaluate how to proceed with better information.

* * *

Detective Lance sat at his desk looking through the new cases in the department. It had been a few days since any interesting cases crossed his desk. Either the vigilante had finally decided to hang up his bow, which he doubted, or something exciting was about to happen. He looked through the case file again hoping for a promising file. Nothing stood out as meriting a detective's skill rather than being handled by the police. At this rate there nothing would keep his mind preoccupied which meant another night ending with a long stop at the bar.


	10. Chapter 10

I'm back! I finally finished writing my thesis and moved across the country. But I begin my next graduate school program Monday so bear with me as I continue to write.

Survival was monotonous. While sleeping, Oliver relived his memories in dreams. While capturing fish in the stream he remembered the people he hunted down and even killed in the past. While seeking shelter he remembered the home he ran away from and was now avoiding.

He had plenty of time to think, but no answers. Instead his list of questions continued to grow.

After days in the woods, Oliver was still depressed over the many relationships and events in his life. Those may have been the worst moments of his self-imposed seclusion. The past few years had steeled him to physical abuse, but the torture to his soul as he doubted his mother and remembered his infuriated and instinctual response in her office was worse.

Other times he remembered why he thought of the woods as a safe haven. The woods are nearly mystical in their ability to remind the inhabitant of what is important in life: namely sleep, food, and shelter.

Oliver did his best to maintain the status quo.

Much of the time he felt no peace in his seclusion. His thoughts would engulf him in the dark and he would remember. Memories of his adolescent rebellion that extended into his twenties when he acted like a jerk to everyone, his overwhelming guilt surrounding Sarah's death, horror at the death of his father before his eyes, and the repeated violence on the island. Memory after memory would flood his consciousness day and night.

To combat his memories, Oliver would exhaust himself by training in the woods. The methodical footwork and fluid swings against an imagined foe focused his mind on fighting instead of remembering.

He wished he had someone close to talk to. Someone he could share his doubts and fears with but without receiving rebuke for his actions and horror at his past. Someone who would make him smile instead and forget the horror of his past. Someone how would help him shape a new and just future.

But he was alone.

Six feet under would be blissfully peaceful by comparison.

After days of searching for answers and avoiding questions, Oliver realized that the woods held no mystical power to help him. Instead, the woods were even lonelier than maintaining secrets and double identities. Oliver needed to return home in order to get answers to his questions.

And so he began the long walk home.

Felicity was riding the wave of adrenaline from the successful mission at Lee Heuton's apartment long into the night. If taking vertigo was anything like the buzz she was feeling, she understood why Thea took it. The thrill of engineering a plan for Diggle to plant tech at the old apartment complex to gather intelligence on Lee Heuton and his men's conversations was unlike anything she had experienced in her life spent mostly working with computers. She felt empowered. For the first time in days, Felicity slept peacefully through the night. In the morning, she was refreshed and ready to begin analyzing the data they were collected from the arrow's microphone.

By midafternoon Felicity had automated a program to scan the recordings and sort the conversations into different topics and different speakers. Essentially her goal was to have the program develop profiles for each voice picked up by the microphone. Then she wanted to know if that voice was just delivering pizza or involved in developing schemes. Finally she could go back and listen to only conversations that the program identified as begin held by important people about important topics. By evening she had the program running smoothly and was upgrading the audio quality with another program she added to the code. She was even dreaming up new ideas on how to refine the program for additional applications.

Moira groaned as she looked at the message on her cell phone. She obediently put her pumps back on and called for a driver to take her to the city. As they pulled away from the Queen mansion, Moira looked back at the lights on in the house and wondered where Thea was. She was somewhere in their alone but protected by the security guards.

Moira knew she deserved justice from the vigilante, but she would do anything to protect Thea and Oliver. Luckily for the Queen's, the vigilante was not targeting the List and executing them without regard. He has some compassion and gave second chances.

She wished again that she had a second chance. She would have done anything to prevent Robert from getting involved in Malcolm's schemes. She should have done something to get out from under Malcolm's hand once she discovered what was happening. But now she was afraid for her family without hope of redemption for herself.

She cleared her thoughts from her mind and opened the door. With a polite smile she asked, "What do you have to discuss tonight?"

Malcolm turned around in his chair and gestured for her to sit. All the while he gave her his winning smile he had perfected for the media. It just made her cringe. But she sat like she was supposed to and offered her assistance anyway. God help her.

After listening into a particularly colorful conversation among the people at Heuton's apartment, Felicity was thanking her lucky stars that Oliver was with the good guys. She had stumbled into this crime fighting thing due to her employment at Queen Consolidated after all. There are stories of people getting pressed into criminal activity. Hypothetically, Oliver could have been a bad guy who had her working on criminal activity as terms of her employment. He could have forced her to wear an explosive collar. If she did not follow his instructions, he could decapitate her by explosion. But clearly she was just on edge because she had been listening to some of the bizarre schemes the men in Heuton's apartment were developing.

She stood up to stretch and realized she really needed to pee. Glancing at the clock, Felicity noticed it was late in the evening and she hadn't consumed anything since her afternoon latte. After stopping by the bathroom, Felicity wandered into the kitchen. Raisa always prepared incredible food. Hopefully it tasted just as lip smackingly good after being microwaved.

While leaning deep into the fridge, Felicity heard a sound in the kitchen and awkwardly spun around while preparing an excuse for why her butt was sticking out of the fridge. She just blushed instead when she saw Thea chucking lightly at her guilty expression.

"Anything look good in there?" Thea asked.

"There is some decadent looking ice cream in the freezer but I thought I would try to find something healthy first. Would you like something? Wait, it is okay if I have something from your fridge? Security just moved into your house, we didn't really get a rundown of the rules including important questions regarding the distribution of food," rambled Felicity as she attempted to dig herself out of this most recent hole.

With a playful smile on her face, Thea replied, "You better dig out the ice cream and I will get all the toppings."

When they had each gathered ingredients, Thea sat down at a bar stool in the kitchen and began dishing out ice cream. Felicity clenched her hands together and asked, "Are you sure this is okay with you? I can just get some food and eat it at my desk."

Thea looked at her with a smirk and sarcastically added, "Ya, you will just run on over to the closest fast food place. We are miles from the city. Your food will be cold long before you get back." And she started filling the second bowl with ice cream.

"Will your mom be okay with me eating your food though?" asked Felicity.

"Worry about what toppings you want to put on this ice cream," said Thea as she slid a big bowl over to Felicity. "My mom rarely even comes to the kitchen. She barely eats anything for that matter. You are welcome to the food." After a moment Thea began again in a morose tone while looking down at the spoon in her hand, "I think she is at a late meeting with Mr. Merlyn again."

Felicity caved and started piling toppings onto her ice cream but she was conscientious of the change in Thea's demeanor. Trying to change the mood, she held her first spoonful up to Thea and said "Cheers!" before taking a bite. "Mmm, this is good."

Thea nodded her head in agreement as she plucked the maraschino cherry from the top of her sundae.

"Do you have sundaes often?" Felicity asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"We used to have sundaes every Sunday night. My Dad always insisted someone spelled sundae wrong because everyone knew you had to eat one every Sunday." Thea smiled to herself as she remembered the nights the family would sit around the table and act like, well, a family. But her smile faded as she continued, "then I had sundaes by myself because mom was never in the mood to do anything like we used to before the accident. I wanted to keep the tradition alive but they never tasted as good alone."

Felicity looked at Thea compassionately. It was incredible to hear Thea talk about the Queen's. Oliver went to lengths to avoid talking about anything personal. Felicity knew Oliver wanted to renew his familial bonds by his actions. She doubted that Thea realized this since Oliver diligently sheltered his family from his actions. "Have you invited Oliver to have sundaes with you again?"

Thea rolled her eyes while taking a large scoop of ice cream. She held it up and said, "Do you really think Oliver would leave his busy social life at his club to eat this with me?" Then she shoved the ice cream in her mouth and irascibly wiped at the ice cream that got on her lips.

Felicity looked up from her own bowl of ice cream and said "Yes, I do think he would have sundaes with you if you asked him. He values you more than you realize, he just doesn't know how to show you."

"Then why did he run away?" Thea asked crossly.

"I am sure that he is thinking about you even when he is not at home. Sometimes, people carry home inside of them," said Felicity.


End file.
